Apple’s plans to refresh its MacBook line-up are coming into view, according to the latest reporting on the company’s spring launch schedule.
According to the erstwhile Apple watcher Mark Gurman of Bloomberg, the next generation MacBook Pro with M5 Pro and M5 Max could arrive “as early as the week of March 2.” That goes for the MacBook Air with the standard M5 chip too.
Gurman writes: “The new MacBook Pros, meanwhile, are tied to the macOS 26.3 cycle that runs through March. The M4 versions of the high-end laptops remain in short supply, a telltale sign that new models are coming. A product launch is currently slated for as early as the week of March 2.”
It doesn’t appear this will be a significant refresh beyond the chip upgrade – i.e the OLED display or the touchscreen. That’s said to be slated for later this year when it’s time to launch the first M6 products. So the M5 Pro/Max versions are likely to be similar to the M5 version that arrived late last year, only with an immense amount of oomph to do all of that heavy lifting.
The key trigger point for the release could be the launch of the macOS 26.3, which isn’t scheduled to be the largest update. It’s certainly not going to bring the launch of the new conversational version of Siri and the first evidence of Apple’s partnership with Google to use Gemini to help out Apple Intelligence.
Gurman also – once again – mentions the possibility of a cheaper MacBook model that runs on an A-Series iPhone chip rather than an M-Series iPhone chip. That won’t arrive as the spring MacBook refresh, but could follow towards the summer.
